One of the axioms of politics is that when you think you’ve got your finger on a story, pause and ask yourself if it’s the tip of the iceberg. Nine times out of ten the answer will be “yes.” Rolling Stone is breaking a story tonight showing that while the attention this past week was riveted on the Atlantic’s reporting of the Signal chat leak to its editor, that was far and away not the only piece of documentation that was potentially compromising to leak out of Washington.
This administration makes the Ted Mack Amateur Hour look like the Academy Awards, in terms of basic talent and execution. This is what you get when you have all rookie recruits from Fox News. And wait until Marco Rubio is confronted with this. Rubio is a broken man. The man who broke him threw him a bone and made him Secretary of State. And while that is an extreme honor and achievement under normal circumstances, all it does is put Rubio’s face and name on the poster for the worst administration in American history.
Two Trump administration spreadsheets — which each include what numerous advocates and government officials say is highly sensitive information on programs funded by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — were sent to Congress and also leaked online.
The leak, which sent a variety of international groups and nonprofits scrambling to assess the damage and protect workers operating under repressive regimes, came after the organizations had pressed the Trump administration to keep the sensitive information private and received some assurances it would remain secret.
Reached for comment, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly says: “These documents were transmitted to Congress and not publicly released by the State Department.” She urged Rolling Stone to contact “whoever leaked it and in turn, made it public.” […]
The State Department, led by Marco Rubio, informed a variety of international nonprofits and longtime implementing partner organizations last week that upcoming payments of their congressionally approved grant funds came with some conditions that the Trump administration wanted to clarify.
As part of their campaign to eliminate what they’re calling “waste, fraud, and abuse,” Team Trump and DOGE had demanded comprehensive grant recipient information — and State Department officials let the organizations know that Musk’s lieutenants were likely planning on turning this information into a public spreadsheet or database.
And Musk made it clear, according to Rolling Stone, that organizations got the message:”If you’re not OK with providing all this information or with having it all posted online, let us know; however, that decision could, or will, lead to your expected funding being halted.”
And who is going to quarrel with that? Although there was a clear problem here that a lot of the people working with and for USAID were in repressive regimes. But Big Balls and Musk and the rest of his incel band of boys can’t grasp the reality of what people in USAID were really dealing with.
The pushback was swift from a number of international groups that have spent years, if not decades, working with the State Department, USAID, and the U.S. government. (Rolling Stone has agreed not to name these groups, given their leaders and staff justifiably fear retribution from Trump and his senior officials.)
The nonprofit leaders and others reminded State Department personnel — some of whom are career officials aghast at what Team Trump and Musk are doing, and wished to contain unnecessary damage — that various programs that the department had on file had long been marked “sensitive,” and that their information was not meant for public consumption.
A number of these programs, which rely at least in part on State Department and USAID grants, operate in countries run by repressive regimes or authoritarian governments. Exposing key details of those programs, and effectively linking them to the U.S. government, would likely make it easier for those foreign governments to identify citizens or local activists who are associated with those groups and programs.
And that’s the bottom line. These people were doxxed, in effect, and now who knows what they’re going to have to deal with.
“Please do not share the spreadsheet that was circulating yesterday with terminated awards listed and if possible remove it or ask it to be removed from anywhere you’ve seen it,” reads one message shared in a private USAID chat late this week. “It contains information about partners who are working in unsafe environments with restricted civil society space or terrible LGBTQ laws etc. A few of our friends already had to pull staff on an emergency basis yesterday due to threats and unwanted attention from their governments. Please pass along to anyone you think needs to see this.”
One top executive at an international nonprofit and U.S. government implementing partner that’s been grappling with the fallout bluntly tells Rolling Stone: “In all our years of receiving grants from a range of governments, we have never seen the safety of government partners treated with such reckless abandon. People will lose their liberty, and possibly even more, because of this.”
Another source with knowledge of the situation — a State Department career official — says: “Lives are in danger that did not have to be.”
This is Trumpmerikkka. The government is falling into shards and tatters. The inclusion of Elon Musk and his crew at high levels of government is already proving to be the disaster that it was predicted to be. And it’s not just Musk. Musk, if anything, fits right in with the rest of Trump’s cabinet. And what I would not give to be a fly on the wall when Musk and Rubio *discuss* this matter. Oh, mama. That will be choice. The two already don’t like each other.
Say what you will about Rubio, at least he knows how all this works. But he’s also a broken man. The lure of power was too much of a siren call for him to refuse. So he’s signing off on things being handled totally wrong in order to play ball and appease Trump. How far will Rubio allow things to degenerate before he puts Musk in his place?
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Zoomers, if you can spare a coin or two to contribute to keeping PZ trekking through cyberspace, it would be appreciated. Thank you. Ursula
From the article: And Musk made it clear, according to Rolling Stone, that organizations got the message:”If you’re not OK with providing all this information or with having it all posted online, let us know; however, that decision could, or will, lead to your expected funding being halted.”
Isn’t it interesting that the Supreme Court ruled that political candidates–even for President–can raise millions (more like “hundreds of millions”) of dollars from various “dark money” groups and those groups do NOT have to provide a single scrap of information as to who is behind those contributions (not even if some of those contributors are way over the legal limit for campaign contributions).
But Musk feels he has a “right” (and, again, he’s neither a duly-elected official nor a duly-confirmed member of the Administration*) to coerce mostly NGOs into releasing information, some of which could involve sensitive material, or lose the funds and grants that they’ve relied on for years and decades.
*Admittedly, not all members of the Administration need to be confirmed by the Senate but, generally speaking, such individuals are not gifted the same level of power to run roughshod over the country’s fiscal welfare. (Normally, such advisors would take a few months to do the research and gather information that they’d need to make recommendations on where to make cuts rather than being let loose on the government like the proverbial bull in the china shop.)
1. The lure of power was too much of a siren call for him to refuse.
2. How far will Rubio allow things to degenerate before he puts Musk in his place?
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1. Lure is correct. Unfortunately for all of us he has no power, he is now a pure lackey.
2. He never will. This entire episode proves just that.
Meanwhile, over at the Social Security Admin THEY ARE STEALING YOUR MONEY. Yes, it is disconcerting that all the news is only: “It’s just possible that 70 million people may experience…” which is such utter BS. May…???
The ONLY headline should be:
THEY ARE STEALING YOUR MONEY